Means for operating gates.



G. Wr WITSIL. MEANS FOR OPERATING GATES.

APPLIOATION'PILBD 111111.21, 1912.

1,043,654. Patented Nov.5,1912. I

Traum/s WITHESSES -UNITED STATES PATENT CHARLES WESLEY WITSIL, OF STROUDS'BURG, PEN;LN'SYLIZIVAIA,` ASSllIGrlTORv 0F vONE- I-IALF TO FRANK 0., W'ILLIAMS, v0F ANALOMIN K, PENSYLVANIA.

. 'Manns ron OPERATING GATES.

` Specification of /Letters Patent. Application led March 21, 1912. Serial No. l685,155.

Patent-d Nov.. 5, 1912'.

To all whom 'it may' concern;

Be it knownthat I CHARLES W. WITs1L,a citizen' of the United States, and a resident of Stroudsburg, in the county of Monroe and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a ,new and Improved Means for Operating Gates, of which the-following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to ymeans whereby a road gate may be operated by thev occupant of a vehicle upon approaching the gate, to

cause the gate lto move in' a direction away from the vehicle, and4 `whereby also when the vehicle has passed through the gate the oc- 5 cupant lcan -close the gate behind him.

An object of my invention is to provide a gate-operating means of the general characterindicated, and in the form of attachments that may be applied to ordinary gates without any great modification in the'latter, and

' this stated mainy object has largely determined the mechanical form of the invention.

Further objects Will-appear from the specific description hereinafter to be given.

5 Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings'forming a part of this specification, in which' similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures. j

Figure 1 is a perspective vien7 of a gate equipped with my improved operating devices; Fig. 2 is a detail side elevation of the" upper hinge of the gate with my improved arrangement of drums and appurtenances v for the attachment of a pull rope to open and close the gate, and a pull cord-for operating thelatch, the view showing also portions of the hinge post and the Vadjacent upright; and Fig. 3 is a front view of the catch plate that I prefer to employ on the gate post for engaging the latch.

The gate 10 may be of any conventional form, except that I prefer to ,modify incertain particulars the manner of connecting Pthe upright 11 to Which the hinge'pins are attached, as hereinafter explained, and the gate is supported on'hinge pins from the hinge post l2, and has a latch 13 adapted for latching engagement with a catch 14 'on the latch post 15. Onpthe post 12 is secured the fixed member 16 of the upper hinge and the Xed member 17 of the lower/hinge, both of which are in the form of'blocks preferably cylindrical, and are provided with lateral securing arms 18, 19, which passthrough the nut 28. yright 11 of the gate,

post- 1.2as illustrated clearly in Eig. 2, each ofl said arms being secured inany suitable `manner as by a nut 20; lllachiixed hinge member inciudes also a 'vertical pin 21, which 1s received in .a socket` 22 formed in the mating hinge member 23, 24 of each hlnge, said mating member including a block preferably for the most part rounding, and formed with a flat face 25 which lies-against the adjacent upright 11 of the gaten The body of each hinge member 23, 24,'is provided with a lateral stud or. arm 27 having a threaded end that receives the The arm' 27 passes through the upand in order that my attachment may beapplied to ordinary gates with a slight modification, I formfthe uprightll in a manner to permit its being Abolted to the adjacent rear edge part 29 of the gate, as by bolts 30.01- equivalent-means. Deslrably the' rear edge member 29 is made 'dovetailed, and the member 1l is correspondingly formed to vslip over the dovetail edge 29; the member 29l furthermore is grooved vertically in its rear face, as at 31,

to accommodate the ends of the 27 and securing nuts 28.

It will be observed therefore that the hinge upright l1 is designed to carry the lateral arms .two hinge members that are borne by the gate so that the securing of the upright to the gate, as by the bolts 30, and the described dovetail connection when feasible,A at the same time secures in position the hinge members carried by the gate. The mating members 16, 17, having been secured in place on the post 12, the hinge connection of the gate is complete.` Desirably, ball bearings 32 kare employed between the horizontal opposed faces of the described mating hinge members, as clearly shown in Fig. 2J

, Integrali with the body ofthe upper hinge member 23 borne by the-gate upright 11, and rising from the top surface ofsaid hinge member is a standard 33, formed Withttvo cylindrical portions 34, 35, of different diameter, which. constitute drums for a pull rope 36 for operating the gate, and a pull cord 37 for operating the latchl3'. The drum 35 for the` pull cord of the latch is advantageously of smaller diameter than the drum 34 for the pull rope for operatingA the gate= and atthe base 0f the smaller drum-35 there is. an annular flange or Atable 38, which extends beyond the drum 34. ,Furthermore opposite directions way; the outer ends of the rope pass over I ypost 43.v The pull cord 37 the rope 36. A small y1n a direction away from the vehicle and will clearly appear from Fig.

series of this getest may te the pull cord 37 of the latch is given a turn .tively prevented from winding downward I to the drum 34 of the gate-operating rope 36, while the larger diameter of the drum 34 gives'an increased leverage for turning the gate on its hinges Ain response to a pull on drum suiiices very well for the cord 37, since the drum is simply for the cord to wind ,on and off without any pull on thedrum. The pull rope 36 extends in at right angles to the gate opening and parallel with the roadidlers 40 mounted on the inclined 4l of posts 42, 43, the ends of the rope 40 being pro-vided withcounterbalance weights With the described construction, upon a vehicle approaching the gate as from the left of Fig. 1, the driver by a slight pull on the weight 44 will cause the gate 10 to swing ate toward the of the latch is guided at its ends through suitable eyes 46. or equivalent devices, and the ends of said pull cord are secured as at 47 to the weights. 44, respectively, the ends of both the pull cord 37 and the pull rope 36 of the gate being very advantageously united to eyes 50 on the upper end of the weights, the advanswing the free end of the g may grasp an end of the pullfrope 36 and an end of the pull cord 37 simultaneously, first causing the vpressure of a nger to pull on the cord 37 sufficiently to rock the latch 13, which latch is preferably in the form of a bell crank fulcriin'ied as at 51, and having an upright short arm 52, with which the cord 37 is connected, it being understood that the cord 37 riins in two strands from the latch to the dru'm 35, the respeetive'strands running to a connection with the weights 44, 45, as

The catch plate 14 on the gate post- 15 desirably has a vertical notch 53, of keystone shape for engaging the long arm 54 of t-lie latch 13. On the posts 42, 43, catch plates 55 are secured having intermediate the side edges a preferably key-stone shaped notch 56, the near side edge 57 being rounded to act as a cam when the latch 13 strikes that edge, while the far side 58 of each catch plate 55 has an increased hei ht, as clearly shown in Fig. l, to arrest the Iatch and prevent the vgate from swinging beyond the posts 42 or 43, as will readily be understood.

ate its ends above the said rope drum and in fixed relal:tion thereto,

latch.

upper ends E Land its latch, of

yrespectively, the upper fixed end of 'pull cord, the drums being co-axial hinge, and of diiferent diameters and co- Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,`

1. The herein-described means attachable f to a. gate, for operating the saine, an upright having means to secure it by its inner face to the hinge end of the gate, said upright carrying upper and lower hinge members on the outer face, upper and lower mating members having means for securing them to -a hinge post of the gate, inemb the upper hinge er on the upright having a drum, a gate-operating pull rope winding intermedion said drum, a second drinn and a pull cord on said second drum and having ends attachable to the gate 2. The combination with a pull cord on the cord having connecliaving ends extendthe gateway having posts for the ends of the the said rope 3. The herein-described means attachable to a gate, for operating the same, compris- 'ing upper and lower hinge members, adaptedto be secured to the gate and the hinge post the gate having drums one above the other adapted to receive the operating rope and the latch 'axial with each other, a Harige between the drums, and a pin on the smaller drum at a point above the iiange.

In a gate-operating attachment, mating hinge members having means for attaching them to a gate post and gate respectively, the gate member of the hinge having drums of different diameter, a Hange between the drums, and a pin on the smaller drum above the flange.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES WESLEY WITSIL. Witnesses:

Roer. Giguvnn, M. W. RHODE.

obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. S. .w

a hinged gate;I gate-operating means com` .prlsing drums secured adjacent to the hinged Vend of the gate in fixed Vrelation to each fother, a gate-operating rope winding on one of said drums and having ends extending in y:opposite directions at approximately right 'angles to the gateway, second drum, said pull tions with the latch and ing in the same direct-ion as the gate-operating rope, posts along @means for engaging the latch, and supportfing means on said lrope and cord respectively, and cord being secured by their ends ad- 5 jacent to each other for their convenient grasping and successive operation.

tage of which arrangement is that the driver y with the 

